AP Chinese

Thanks for reaching our AP Chinese exam page. Here you’ll find a wealth of information on how to successfully sit the AP Chinese exam, including links to various resources that can be found online, as well as study guides that can give you the winning edge in your exams.

The good news is that the AP Chinese Language exam is easy to study for, as the exam has not been changed for several years. Still, you will need to plan for at least three months to get the most out of your tests.

AP Chinese Exam Info

The AP Chinese Language and Culture exam contains two sections. The first section is composed of 70 multiple-choice questions that come in two parts – Listening and Reading. The Listening section contains 25-35 questions and the reading contains 35-40 questions.
Exam Length: Approximately 90 minutes.

The second section or the free-response section consists of 2 Writing and 2 Speaking tasks. The Speaking task requires students to get involved in a conversation. You have to choose one topic from 6 different prompts. The Writing task involves cultural presentation, and you only have one prompt. Time given to complete this set is around 45 minutes.

Students can choose either Traditional/Simplified Chinese or Mandarin Chinese for the exam.

AP Chinese Resources

You will need a good book and practice a lot for AP exam preparation. The best option is to buy Barron’s AP Chinese Book that teaches you to understand the exam questions format and prepares you in lots of ways. This book teaches you the hard way. Reading sections in this book are not easy and the grammar sections are in-depth. This could be an added advantage when you read this book comprehensively because you can score a guaranteed 5 on the exam.

When you are able to grasp the enormity of this book, you will have full confidence to deal with the complexity of the exam. You will want to read more Chinese books, and listen to Chinese radio every day after reading this book.

If you already know some Chinese, then this book will help you to learn words that are more specific, their meanings and prepare you well for the test. However, if you are new or just started learning Chinese, this book will still help you understand the cultural review of China in depth, brush up on your vocabulary, and guide you through difficult readings. You can still obtain score 4 if you struggle with this book.

You can still prepare for the test if you are new to Chinese language by taking this course. However, you will be more comfortable with speaking and writing if you have full confidence on it, which is only achievable after few years of practice and study.

There is a blog post that helps you get all the motivation you need to learn Chinese. You will definitely head to right direction after you read the blog.

You can buy the following 3 books to learn Chinese by yourself as they give you walk you through the language and then successfully prepare you for the next step.

Your Chinese will improve a lot in a very short time with the help of these books by going through the lessons for 30 minutes every day. Use this website for at least 15 minutes every day to learn new words and pronunciation. Now for practice, you should watch Chinese movies, listen to Chinese music, or talk to someone who understands Chinese. After spending an hour a day for 3 months you will be just ready to start using the Barron book.

Self-study tips

As stated previously, you will need to budget at least two to three months of study time in advance of sitting the AP Chinese test. Anything less than three months and you will jeopardize your chances of academic success.

It is also better to break down your study sessions into small chunks instead of trying to do everything at once. Not only will you retain the information better doing it this way, but it will also ensure that you can put the information to good use during your exam.

Thanks for reading our resource on the AP Chinese examination. We hoped that you found this page useful. You can view Barron’s AP Chinese book and other resources by clicking the links above, where you’ll be taken to the product’s page on Amazon.